Hasta La Gadget!

We’re not sure what sort of shenanigans ARM gets up to, but it managed to amass itself quite the interesting collection of netbooks for its MWC booth. Information was scant, but they were showing that Freescale i.MX-based Pegatron netbook and nettop we saw at CES, an ultrawide 11.1-inch Snapdragon-based netbook from Wistron, a Snapdragon-based convertible tablet netbook from Inventec Alaska, and a totally odd “tech demo” of a Qualcomm-based Wistron MID semi-running a sketch version of Windows Mobile 6.5. Most all of the systems were in some level of prototype form, and seemed unbearably slow at running whatever prototype flavor of Linux they happened to have, while the MID didn’t really seem to operate at all, at least to our touch. Still, it’s clear that Snapdragon and Freescale i.MX are allowing for some pretty wild and thin form factors while still rocking decent battery life.

Continue reading ARM’s stash of netbook oddities and a Windows Mobile 6.5 MID

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs

ARM’s stash of netbook oddities and a Windows Mobile 6.5 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new application called iShred turns your iPhone into an electric guitar — and it’s pretty damn fun even for experienced musicians like myself.

The $5 app, which launched this week, consists of a virtual fret board and a set of six strings. Mind you, this isn’t a digital representation of an entire guitar neck: That would be pretty impractical given the iPhone’s screen size. There are actually 10 frets, and each one can be programmed to play an entire chord or a single note. You swipe your finger across the touchscreen to strum a chord; tapping on each string plucks individual notes.

At first that might sound pretty lame and limited, but any guitarist knows most rock and roll songs alternate between only a few chords — usually six or seven at most. A lot of the really easy, basic songs I first learned to play (e.g., Oasis’s "Wonderwall" or Weezer’s "Sweater Song") used only three or four chords. So unless you’re a classical guitarist who plays insanely complex stuff, iShred should be enough to entertain your friends and yourself.

The app even includes a collection of songs whose chords are already programmed into the frets — just to get you started on learning the app. (I recommend starting with "Wild Thing.") After you get a hang of it, you can create your own custom fret board and start programming chords or notes into the frets to play your own favorites or compose originals.

Pretty neat — and there’s even an "AirPlay" option to share your songs with other users over Wi-Fi. You know what I’d like to see? A concert with a guitarist performing a song or two with this app. That’d be dorky-awesome-to-the-max.

Check out a video demoing the app below the jump.

Download Link [iTunes]

Can rain, or sleet, or snowtire, or Mini Cooper stop the Motorola Tundra from its appointed route? http://tinyurl.com/ae94y6

(Credit: Konami)

If you haven’t checked out Konami’s Web site for “Metal Gear Solid 4 Touch,” the iPhone version of the popular “MGS” series, we recommend taking a look–even if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch. Both site and game look pretty sweet, and Konami’…

Google’s Android operating system is not just for mobile phones. It is coming to netbooks.

Asus, which kickstarted the netbook  market with its Eee PCs, has put a team of engineers to work on developing an Android-based device.

The company could have a netbook with Android OS the end of the year, says Samson Hu, head of the Asus’ Eee PC business in an interview with Bloomberg.

Asus already has some experience with Android. The company is working with GPS-based navigation devices maker Garmin to launch a line of new phones, some of which will run Android.

The Android operating system released in October through the HTC T-Mobile G1 phone has already captured the attention of cellphone makers. Handset manufacturers such as Motorola, LG and Samsung are developing cellphones that run Android operating system.

If Asus releases a netbook running Android, it won’t be long before other netbook makers such as Acer jump on the bandwagon. 

Also see:
Asus to Kill Its 8.9-inch Netbooks

Photo: Asus Eee PC (LuisCarlo Diaz/Flickr)